The origins of Ube Jinja are unknown. Although there is no documentary evidence, it is believed that it began as the family shrine for the Ifubuki clan of the
Kofun period, who were the
kuni no miyatsuko of Inaba, and who possessed sacred
Japanese swords given to them by
Emperor Seimu. According to the
Heian period Engishiki, during the reign of the legendary
Emperor Nintoku, Takenouchi no Sukune, who was over 360 years old at the time, went missing in Kamekinzan on the hillside of Mt. Ube in Inaba. There are two monoliths behind the shrine, which are part of a
kofun said to be Takenouchi no Sukune's burial mound. The shrine is located near the site of the
kokufu (provincial capital) of Inaba, and numerous archaeological sites are in the vicinity. The shrine has been rebuilt repeatedly. During the
Muromachi period, the shrine gradually lost its estates and declined. In 1581, when
Toyotomi Hideyoshi attacked
Tottori Castle, the shrine was reduced to ashes. It was reconstructed in 1633 with the assistance of
Ikeda Mitsunaka, the
daimyō of
Tottori Domain under the
Tokugawa shogunate. During the
Meiji era of
State Shinto, the shrine was rated as a
national shrine, 2nd rank The current shrine dates to 1898. The
haiden of Ube Jinja is depicted on the 5-yen bank note in circulation from 1899 to 1934. The position of
kannushi at the shrine has been a hereditary position of the Ifubuki clan since ancient times. The composer
Akira Ifukube is the grandson of a 65th-generation
kannushi. The shrine is located a 20-minute walk from
Tottori Station on the
JR West San'in Main Line. ==Gallery==